DUBAI // A Pakistani man who killed his wife and then claimed she had stabbed herself while drunk was sentenced to life in jail on Sunday.
Pakistani L R, 40, told Dubai Criminal Court that his wife had brandished a knife at him during an argument, he had shoved her and she had accidentally stabbed herself.
The body of Najma Banon, believed to be in her thirties, was discovered by Ras Al Khaimah Police in 2010.
Records do not show why it took the case four years to reach court.
Prosecutors said that on January 28, 2010 the defendant asked his neighbours to take care of his young daughter because he and his wife had to travel to Pakistan to renew her visa.
“My wife agreed to look after the girl because we are neighbours,” M A, also from Pakistan, said.
“We knew they were married but we have never seen a contract or anything to prove this. All we know about them is that they were both alcoholics.”
M A said the defendant was visibly upset when he left the girl behind.
“He was crying so hard and then confessed that his crying was because his wife was not travelling with him but in fact had fled the house,” he said.
He added that the defendant promised he would only leave the girl with them for 10 days but she ended up staying for 23 days.
“He would call me often to check on the girl and told me that if his wife or her sister came, I should allow them to take the girl. But neither of them ever turned up,” said M A.
Court records did not explain what happened to the daughter after her stay with the neighbours. But it is thought she was placed at the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children then returned to Pakistan to be cared for by a family member.
Another neighbour testified that Ms Banon had once told her mother that the defendant assaulted her.
“But I have no information regarding the killing incident,” said T R, a Pakistani labourer.
The defendant’s brother, A R, testified that he was surprised by his siblings return to Pakistan in 2010.
“He confessed to me, to the entire family and to his other wife in Pakistan that he killed his other wife in Dubai,” A R said.
He said L R told him he had had a fight with her while the two were drunk and then he killed her.
“He did not say what the fight was about, but he told me that he was in a relationship with her before the marriage and that he married her when she got pregnant,” he said.
The defendant denied premeditated murder, claiming her death occurred as he argued with his wife after she suspected him of adultery.
“I told her I hadn’t had an affair but she didn’t believe me. She grabbed a knife then threatened to stab our daughter if I did not confess,” L R said.
“So I pushed her and she stabbed herself as she was drunk.”
He added that afterwards he panicked and left her bleeding for about 20 minutes before she died.
He then went to a nearby supermarket and purchased a bin bag, hid her body inside it then dumped her in Ras Al Khaimah.
L R will be deported after competing his jail term.
salamir@thenational.ae
